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Andrew Shaffer
Andrew Shaffer is the writer of Ghosts from Our Past: Both Literally and Figuratively: The Study of the Paranormal, published by Three Rivers Press. About When he was 5 years old, Andrew Shaffer wrote a 5 page sequel to Ghostbusters in 1985. The Crossrip Podcast 6/26/16 "#227 - Andrew Shaffer/"Ghosts From Our Past" and Erik Burnham "Tobin's Spirit Guide" - June 27, 2016" 1:18:21-1:18:31 Andrew Shaffer says: "And--And I recently posted this online, I wrote a little 5 page Ghostbusters II in 1985." In high school, Shaffer thought he was going to be in a band. The Crossrip Podcast 6/26/16 "#227 - Andrew Shaffer/"Ghosts From Our Past" and Erik Burnham "Tobin's Spirit Guide" - June 27, 2016" 1:22:11-1:22:24 Andrew Shaffer says: "Let's just skip overall the high school stuff, um, because I thought I was going to be in a band. wasn't really writing -- I was writing songs and they were bad as well." For the longest time, he wanted to write a version of Tobin's Spirit Guide. After writing a Sharknado tie-in book for Penguin Random House, Shaffer was asked if there was anything else he wanted to write. He immediately mentioned Tobin's Spirit Guide but his editor turned him down citing Ghostbusters was a dead franchise and the 30th anniversary had already passed. About a year later, Shaffer got a call from his editor about doing a Ghostbusters tie-in. Shaffer was informed someone else was working on a Tobin's Spirit Guide and the movie was a reboot. The Crossrip Podcast 6/26/16 "#227 - Andrew Shaffer/"Ghosts From Our Past" and Erik Burnham "Tobin's Spirit Guide" - June 27, 2016" 1:23:26-1:24:10 Andrew Shaffer says: "Tobin's Spirit Guide. I mean, one of the first books I remember having as a kid was the Ghostbusters Training Manual and I just adored that thing even though it was like 20 pages long and it was just basically a sticker book. It was something that I just adored and I, you know, over the years, I was like, 'Why isn't there never something like this for older readers?' I never really grew out of that book. There was nothing else. You could hit the role playing game but uh I don't have enough friends that aren't into playing this role playing game with." The Crossrip Podcast 6/26/16 "#227 - Andrew Shaffer/"Ghosts From Our Past" and Erik Burnham "Tobin's Spirit Guide" - June 27, 2016" 1:24:18-1:25:54 Andrew Shaffer says: "So that was my first idea and that was a long gestating idea. I was like, 'If I ever get a chance to do something, I was like we need to bring this to life. We need to bring this to life.' And I wrote a book, How to Survive a Sharknado made for Penguin Random House and it was about how to survive a Sharknado and 39 other--other Sy Fi Channel movie monsters and it was actually an in-world book that appeared onscreen in Sharknado 2. It was written by Tara Reid's character, April Wexler. So I was like I had a little bit of experience doing a tie-in in-world book and my editor at Penguin Random House asked if there was anything else you to work on and I said Ghostbusters. He said well, Ghostbusters is dead. Y'know, it's a dead franchise. You probably heard this a million times before but you know without a new movie, without an anniversary date - we just passed the anniversary date 30 years without any of this stuff coming out it's dead and then about a year later he gives me a call and says, 'Hey, they're actually doing this uh new movie, are you interested?' I was absolutely. I want to do Tobin's Spirit Guide. Let's do it. And then it was like well, someone else is actually doing Tobin's Spirit Guide and the new movie's reboot. And so immediately, I go uhhh..." Shaffer got a draft of the screenplay and mocked up a proposal. It was greenlit and Shaffer was asked to write some example sections. He wrote some chapters and sent them. A couple weeks later, Shaffer got notes from Paul Feig and Katie Dippold explaining what "Ghosts From Our Past" was about and how it differed from Tobin's Spirit Guide. Shaffer looked at stacks of books on the paranormal and science in an attempt to find a plausible way to bridge them together for the book. The Crossrip Podcast 6/26/16 "#227 - Andrew Shaffer/"Ghosts From Our Past" and Erik Burnham "Tobin's Spirit Guide" - June 27, 2016" 1:28:02-1:29:26 Andrew Shaffer says: "Just the screenplay at first and then I did a sort of mock up of, y'know, proposal of what I would do with this, what I would do with this book and sent it in. He said great let's do this and just write some more examples. A couple sample chapters and then as soon as I turned in those sample chapters and the rest of the proposal, we got notes a couple weeks later back from Paul Feig and Katie Dippold and here's what we--the direction--we want to go in but uh we need to change -- my idea at first was to do more along the lines of a Tobin's Spirit Guide and they're like 'No, this is what the book is in the world and they're not really paranormal investigators, start off as scientists' So it took a little bit of a different angle my take was so they were like okay, 'Let's work this back up. And really work the science and physics theme throughout the book. So it really is looking at the, y'know, this new world throught these characters, Erin Gilbert and Abby Yates' eyes. And I really had to get in there." The Crossrip Podcast 6/26/16 "#227 - Andrew Shaffer/"Ghosts From Our Past" and Erik Burnham "Tobin's Spirit Guide" - June 27, 2016" 1:29:28-1:29:55 Andrew Shaffer says: "Now like you said, what else was I given? Not much beyond their notes so a lot of that was left to me to fill in the blanks and all I had was the script and I, y'know, was hoping and praying that they didn't -- they do a lot of ad lib on Paul Feig movies -- and if they didn't ad lib something on set, y'know 'When I was a kid'..." The Crossrip Podcast 6/26/16 "#227 - Andrew Shaffer/"Ghosts From Our Past" and Erik Burnham "Tobin's Spirit Guide" - June 27, 2016" 1:30:33-1:30:52 Andrew Shaffer says: "So I had two stacks of books on my desk. One was all paranormal books and the other was all science books. And I had to find a way to sort of connect those two words um and y'know without it seems -- it becomes plausible." He also had to expand a page or so about Erin and Abby's childhood into under 100 pages. At first, he was told Leslie Jones was playing Abby and Melissa McCarthy was playing Patty. He didn't get the memo they switched roles until later. He threw in some nods to Feig's childhood in Michigan to pander to but Shaffer got notes back on what he got wrong. The Crossrip Podcast 6/26/16 "#227 - Andrew Shaffer/"Ghosts From Our Past" and Erik Burnham "Tobin's Spirit Guide" - June 27, 2016" 1:35:15-1:35:31 Andrew Shaffer says: "In the screenplay, there's about -- I don't know -- maybe a page or so about their childhood. We didn't really have a lot on their childhood. 'Could you just expand on that to 80 pages, that'd be great'." The Crossrip Podcast 6/26/16 "#227 - Andrew Shaffer/"Ghosts From Our Past" and Erik Burnham "Tobin's Spirit Guide" - June 27, 2016" 1:36:00-1:36:28 Andrew Shaffer says: "And actually what had happened was, um, when I originally got the script, I was told Abby Yates would be played by Leslie Jones I believe and Patty Tolan was Melissa McCarthy which is something Paul had alluded to in interviews. And, uh, yeah, apparently I for whatever reason I didn't get the memo they switched up so I was trying to write them in what I imagined the voices and actresses would be." The Crossrip Podcast 6/26/16 "#227 - Andrew Shaffer/"Ghosts From Our Past" and Erik Burnham "Tobin's Spirit Guide" - June 27, 2016" 1:37:06-1:37:36 Andrew Shaffer says: "I threw in some nods to his childhood experience and then I threw in, well, he's like from Michigan - like Detroit and Battle Creek references... and it was really pandering to my audience at that point. And I got back and he was like, 'This is wrong. This is wrong. Thing is wrong.' I was like, 'I know nothing. I'm sorry. I'm not from Michigan." For Abby and Erin's college years, Shaffer threw in some of his experiences like a professor who threw his $200 textbook away after flipping through it. The Crossrip Podcast 6/26/16 "#227 - Andrew Shaffer/"Ghosts From Our Past" and Erik Burnham "Tobin's Spirit Guide" - June 27, 2016" 1:38:29-1:38:54 Andrew Shaffer says: "And then their college years I sort of I can sort of base this a little bit more on my experiences like there's one little anecdote in there about a sort of really swarmy professor who asks them for the textbook, flips through it then tosses it in the trash. I actually had a professor do that. Like a $200 textbook." Related to Ghostbusters *Andrew Shaffer wrote "Ghosts from Our Past: Both Literally and Figuratively: The Study of the Paranormal" Other Works *American Drug Chronicles: An Anthology (2016) *The Day of the Donald: Trump Trumps America (2016) *The Telltale Hardon and Other Perversions (2016) *The Shelf on the Elf: Holiday Leftovers (2016) *An Earl Grey Christmas (2016) *Gone Grey: A Parody (2016) *Walk Hand In Hand Into Extinction: Stories Inspired by True Detective (2016) *If I Only Had Cocaine, and Other Drug Stories (2015) *The Hunger Games and Philosophy: A Critique of Pure Treason (2015) *How to Survive a Sharknado and Other Unnatural Disasters: Fight Back When Monsters and Mother Nature Attack (2014) *Fifty First Times: A New Adult Anthology (2014) *Start Here, Volume 2: Read Your Way into 25 Amazing Authors (2013) *Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey (2013) *Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World (2013) *Literary Rogues: A Scandalous History of Wayward Authors (2013) *Cinquenta Vergonhas de Cinza (Em Portugues do Brasil) (2013) *Fifty Shames of Earl Grey: A Parody (2012) *The Atheist's Guide to Christmas (2012) *Grandes Filosofos Que Fracassaram No Amor (Em Portugues do Brasil) (2012) *Askta Kaybeden Buyuk Filozoflar (2012) *Yoga - Philosophy for Everyone: Bending Mind and Body (2011) *Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love (2011) Also See *Interview with Andrew Shaffer- wiki exclusive Interview *The Crossrip Podcast 6/26/16 "#227 - Andrew Shaffer/"Ghosts From Our Past" and Erik Burnham "Tobin's Spirit Guide" - June 27, 2016" *Yes Have Some Podcast 6/22/16 "Yes Have Some Episode 16: Ghosts From Our Past Author Andrew Shaffer" External Links *Andrew Shaffer Official Website *Andrew Shaffer at Twitter *Andrew Shaffer at Facebook *Andrew Shaffer at Instagram *Andrew Shaffer at Tumblr *Andrew Shaffer at Youtube Trivia *Andrew Shaffer doesn't necessarily believe in ghosts but wants to. The Crossrip Podcast 6/26/16 "#227 - Andrew Shaffer/"Ghosts From Our Past" and Erik Burnham "Tobin's Spirit Guide" - June 27, 2016" 1:17:25-1:18:06 Andrew Shaffer says: "I didn't necessarily believe in ghosts but I wanted to believe much like Fox Mulder and it was something that I... I don't know why it stuck well -- all of your listeners know -- it meant something different to everybody but it was just a movie that spoke to me especially Bill Murray's performance and I sort of saw a little of myself in the sarcastic, snarky character he played." *Shaffer read one of John Hodgeman's books while he was writing Ghosts From Our Past. The Crossrip Podcast 6/26/16 "#227 - Andrew Shaffer/"Ghosts From Our Past" and Erik Burnham "Tobin's Spirit Guide" - June 27, 2016" 1:56:25-1:56:36 Andrew Shaffer says: "Uh yeah, I was actually reading one of the Hodgeman books while I was writing this so a little bit of that Hodgeman humor bled over." *On page 7 of Ghostbusters 101 #1, in panel 2, there is a non-canon reference to Andrew Shaffer on the book on top of the stack of books. The book he is the author of is "How to Create Cults and Influence People", a nod to "How to Make Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. References Gallery AnimatedToasterIDW02.jpg|Non-Canon Reference in Ghostbusters 101 #1 Category:Writers